


Flicking The Switch

by cometsandbooks



Series: Apartment Escapades [1]
Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crushes, Crying, Domestic, Fluff and Angst, Innuendo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 22:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5473052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cometsandbooks/pseuds/cometsandbooks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor Walsh notices a strange noise next door at 2am, and ends up rescuing his neighbour Oliver with some clever fingering (not that kind of fingering ... yet).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flicking The Switch

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: We live in adjacent apartments and our bedrooms are on opposite sides of a very thin wall and one night I heard you crying and talked to you through the wall AU

Connor had his head bent over last year’s paper, sitting on the bed with his back against the cold wall. He scratched at his eyes and wondered when they would stop feeling like they were going to close at any minute. It was late and he had to finish studying for his law mid-term exam to be held tomorrow, but he still with a long way from finishing. Sighing, he got up to grab a mug of coffee, hoping the caffeine could keep him awake long enough to retain enough information to pass. He scanned the room lazily as he sipped his steaming drink from the kitchen, taking in the grey walls, dirty clothes piled on a chair in the corner and textbooks stacked haphazardly on his bookshelf. 

He was considering tidying up a little when he heard a muffled breathy sound. A dimple appeared between his eyebrows, portraying his confusion. He had never heard a sound like that around the apartments he’d been living in for just under two years. He took another sip of his drink, ears pricked for more unfamiliar tones in the silence. His eyes widened as he heard the noise repeat, small sharp intakes of breath sounding twice this time. ‘What is that?’ he thought to himself. It seemed to be coming from the wall at the back corner of the room near his desk. Placing his cup down on the counter, he paced soundlessly towards his desk, careful not to ruffle graded papers and unfinished homework that crowded its surface. Standing in front of the wall, he turned his head and laid an ear to the cool exterior, sure that the source of the noise had come from behind it. There was only silence for a long while, so long that Connor nearly gave up. Then he heard a whimper, followed by the distinct sound of someone trying to hide the fact that they were crying. 

He hadn’t even realised someone lived next door; it had been empty for months since old Mrs. Matheson had moved out. Connor was mildly concerned and intently curious as to what could be making this person so sad at 2am on a Tuesday. It was with this thinking that Connor heard the crying really start. Suppressed whines of sadness leaked through the thin walls. He could practically see this person crouched over, hugging their body as they broke down. Connor was now cringing and honestly feeling a little down because this was just awful to listen to. The quick intakes of breath punctuated by melancholic yelps were enough for Connor to make his decision. This simply couldn’t go on. He took a step back and stared at the blank wall, as if he could see the person on the other side. He cocked one hand on his hip and the other reached back to soothe the back of his neck. 

He considered what he should do in this situation. ’All right, I should at least check if they’re okay,” Connor thought, nodding to himself. He rolled up his sleeves, aware of the snivelling and small coughs from choking on tears that were coming through from next door. He took a breath before rapping four times with his knuckles on his side of the wall. All at once, all sounds stopped. Silence. Connor frowned, straining his ears to pick up on anything to be heard from next door. After a beat, he heard the shuffling of footsteps near the wall, and a male voice, heavy with sadness whispered, “Hello?” Connor smiled sympathetically, and moved his head closer to the wall again to better hear the voice. “Um, hi,” he said none too confidently, “I just um, I just heard you, uh… through the wall. Crying, that is. I wanted to make sure that you, uh well that you were… okay?” Connor all but smacked himself in the face with how stupid that had sounded, muttering like an idiot. A thump vibrated the wall, and a slithering sound made its way through, probably meaning the other person had leant against the wall to sit down. 

A hushed reply carried back through the wall, “No, I’m not okay actually, but no one seems to care about that right now. It’s just me in this stupid apartment and I haven’t been able to get my light to work all day. Do you know what it’s like, trying to get things done in dimness like this all day? It sucks,” the neighbour’s harsh tone dropping off at the end as he sighed heavily, sniffling a little now that the tears had subsided. Connor had listened intently, but by the end he was smirking to himself, and even let out a quiet chuckle. The neighbour must have heard this, and a louder thump than before was heard where a fist collided with the thin wall, reverberating a little. “Don’t laugh!” his neighbour said sounding strained and tired, “this isn’t a joke. I’ve been stressing out all day about this and no one seems to want to help me”. Connor shifted his weight to the other foot, and braced his hands against the wall. “No, no, I wasn’t laughing at you!” Connor reassured him through the structure that separated them. “It’s just that, I used to know the neighbour that lived there and she used to have the same problem you’re having. She got pretty frustrated to begin with too, so I know what you’re going through buddy. Can I call you buddy? Never mind, look I can come over and show you how to work the light switches if you want? It’s no trouble helping out, since I know there’s a certain trick to them. How ‘bout it?” he said, pushing as much honesty into his voice as he could manage. No one wants the creepy stalker neighbour coming over the first week you move in, he wanted to sound trustworthy. This guy obviously needed some good news right about now. 

“Oh,” a surprised tone met Connor’s ears. The neighbour obviously hadn’t been expecting to get any help in the matter. “I … um, yeah that would be good. Yeah, no please just um… come around to the door I guess? Man, you have no idea how much this has been bugging me. Hang on, just give me a minute here and then you can um… come to the door I guess.” The voice carried hope this time, which Connor was pleased about in making some progress on helping out his distressed neighbour. Connor confirmed that he would wait, and then moved away from the wall. He ambled over to the sink to wash out his coffee mug, and visited the bathroom briefly to sort out his hair which he had run his fingers through one too many times whilst studying. He heard footsteps next door moving around as if his neighbour was tidying up.

Connor checked his phone for the time, noticing that is had been about five minutes. He padded barefoot out of his apartment his jeans just a little too long for him brushed against the carpet as he moved a few paces down the hall to the entrance to his neighbour’s apartment. Connor waited expectantly by the door until it opened to reveal a strikingly good-looking guy, with dark hair and brown eyes who looked to be about his age. Connor raised his eyebrows slightly and the guy at the door begrudgingly smiled, eyes still bloodshot and puffy from his recent crying session. Connor gave him a soft smile in return, and was waved into the apartment with a welcoming gesture. “I’m Oliver, by the way,” the guy announced. Connor swivelled in place to face him, nodding and saying, “I’m Connor. It’s not much of an introduction but II know how you sound when you cry so I feel like I already have the upper hand.” Oliver dipped his head shyly and massaged his forehead with nimble fingers. “Yeah, well hopefully the crying thing won’t become a habit. Sorry about my little outburst earlier too,” he says, gesturing vaguely towards the wall that joined their apartments, “it’s been a long day.” Oliver finished speaking, clearly feeling exhausted. Connor’s lip quirked up, knowing this was the part where he helped fix the problem. 

Oliver strode toward the living room where the main set of light switches was. He pointed to them and murmured, “These are the ones I can’t seem to work out. You mentioned there was a trick with them?” Connor bobbed his head and only said, “Watch what I do with my fingers.” Oliver stood close, making sure not to miss the movement of Connor’s fingers. Connor was well aware of the heat radiating from his body, and licked his lips absentmindedly. He glanced at Oliver to make sure he was paying attention before pressing his index finger to the first light switch on the panel and flicking it down all the way, before nudging it back up to the half way point, and proceeded to balance it in position there. “See?” he questioned Oliver, meeting his eyes to check if he was getting at the process. “I think so,” Oliver muttered under his breath, his eyes glazed and face looking unsure. “It’s a weird trick, I know,” Connor said, shrugging, “but I think it’s a circuit problem that the land lord just can’t be bothered fixing so it’s the best option until he gets off his ass and actually does something useful.” 

Connor repeated the action with the second light switch, careful to make sure his hand wasn’t blocking Oliver’s view. “Okay,” Connor dropped his hand and stood back a little making room for his neighbour. “Now you have a go. You’re the one living here, so you’ll have to get a handle on this sooner or later.” He flashed a smile at Oliver, hoping to encourage him in getting his head around the apartment’s quirk. Oliver shot a forced smile back before getting into position in front of the panel, and placing his own index finger on the third switch. Letting out a shaky breath, he flicked the switch down, and then in a slower manner he moved it back up, his finger wobbling a little as he set it in the middle. “Perfect!” exclaimed Connor a little too enthusiastically. He coughed to hide his awkwardness at his outburst. Since when did he care about things like this? Sure the guy had been a little desperate for help, and he’d followed Connor’s instructions really well… he shook his head minutely, pushing the thoughts away to speculate over later. For now, he placed a hand on Oliver’s shoulder and said, “See, not too hard is it. You’ll be a professional light switch operator before you know it.” Oliver scoffed before successfully maneuvering the final light switch on the panel into place, before turning to examine their handy work. 

The apartment, almost identical to Connor’s, was now lit in a bright flush of fluorescence. Oliver crossed his arms over himself and stroked his arm with his thumb, seeming bashful. “Okay, that was a lot easier to fix than I thought it would be. I spent all day trying to work this out, and you just whipped over and did it in no time. You must think I’m a jerk for making you come over just to fix some silly lights.” Connor frowned and held a palm out to stop his plunge into guilt, “No way buddy, this was an easy fix! Seriously, the last old bat that lived here was banging around on the walls for two weeks when she moved in, trying to work out these lights too. Eventually I had to ring the landlord to complain from all the noise, and someone must’ve come up and shown her this trick too. So don’t even worry about it, if you’ve only been stressing for one day about these, you’re already doing better than a 67-year-old lady with dementia and that’s not nothing, is it?” He hoped to get a laugh out of self-depreciating Oliver, which he received in the form of a short, loud outburst that was just about he cutest thing Connor had heard in months. 

The word ‘crush’ floated around the back of Connor’s head but he paid it no attention. He had just met the guy, he couldn’t start letting his gay flag fly standing in the apartment of a guy he had just met that only 10 minutes earlier had been crying from his stressful day. Oliver, who had been surveying whether all the apartment lights were on now pulled his eyes away from that, and thanked Connor for his help. He also apologised for the crying, he hadn’t realised their walls let noise through so easily. Connor held up his hand again, confirming that no apology was needed, that everyone cried and there was no reason to be sorry about it. Feeling they were nearing the end of their little episode, Connor voiced, “Well, clearly you’ve had a rough day, so I’ll let you get back to your well-lit apartment and the rest of your err… morning I guess,” Connor said as he turned to head toward the door, remembering that he had 7 hours until the mid-term. He needed to keep studying, as much as he didn’t want to. 

Oliver sheepishly checked a bedside clock before walking Connor to the door. Oliver reached out to shake hands when Connor turned around to say goodbye. Connor’s heart picked up speed a little at the three seconds of brief contact with the calloused, cool skin of Oliver’s hand. They dropped hands and Connor couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face, thinking about how absurd the whole situation had been. From the muffled sobs, to the hushed discourse through the wall, to showing Oliver the light switch trick. “I don’t think I’ve ever helped out a neighbour at 2am before,” Connor said, stifling a giggle. Oliver huffed out a laugh, the sound echoing down the apartment hallway. “Really?” he retorted, “I have a feeling you’d be very good at early morning favours.” 

Connor’s mouth dropped open slightly, eyes widening in surprise. He had really not expected that. He watched his neighbour return to his apartment, whom only 20 minutes ago had been crying against his wall, was now dropping a cheeky wink in his direction. The door closed and Connor stood there with the sensation of excitement simmering in his stomach and fizzing around his chest and wriggling through his arms. ‘Oh, this is going to be good,’ he thought to himself, smiling broadly before heading back to his own apartment. A warmth he had not felt in a long time buzzed in his head, and maybe even in his heart (but that’s not something he’d admit to, at least not quite yet).


End file.
